February photoshoot in St. Petersburg on the frozen Gulf of Finland.

Even though my birthday is in February, I still consider it to be the dullest month. I used to live In St. Petersburg before moving to Vienna and February was a particularly tough time - days were still too short, incredibly cold with some chilling wind to top it up. Not a hint of spring coming. Here in Vienna it's much better, but still no reason to be cheerful. My mind wanders to the past summer days. One picnic day, actually.

It was a bachelorette party organized by me and a decorator in Türkenschanz park. Take a look at the photos and take note of my organization tips.

I love setting up a picnic – but it isn’t all roses, it takes a lot of work! But it definitely worth it, there is something really special about gathering with all your friends on the nature.

Here are my tips to making something beautiful, as this picnic, designed by me and my sweet decorator Serafima. It takes a bit of work to make your picnic gorgeous: ⠀

•  Gather your favorite rugs, couple of nice pillows and if you want to add a drop of awesomeness and fanciness in your picnic try to find one or two poufs, and small coffee table. ⠀
• Baldachin is also a very important part. Everything becomes 10 times better with a transparent cloth, which is gently blown by the wind. ⠀
• Food, of course the most important part! We had a lot of fresh seasonal fruits like strawberry, peaches, apricots, watermelon. And also a gorgeous plate of local Austrian cheese with nuts and crackers. Then we had homemade lemonade and a bottle of good wine. Don't forget special cooler for bottles. It's a wonderful thing! And the sweetest thing - a husband of our decorator woke up very early and cooked for us several delicious cupcakes with custard and fruit.So, this spread was not only plenty of food, but a really good mix of everything for people to nibble on! ⠀
• And final, my main tip is to consider the environment! Yes, it can be annoying lugging dishes and cutlery to the park or beach and cleaning them up when you get back home but why use plastic? We took down actual wine glasses, cutlery and some of our favorite ceramics in a basket and just cleaned it all up when we got home! We want to have these beautiful and special moments, but making sure we don’t leave a huge footprint once we’ve headed home.

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Bon Appétit! Summer is coming!

Desserts provided by Hüftgold Konditorei am Meidlinger Markt thank's a lot.

The wedding on the last summer day - the sun, beautiful lake, Aperol Spritz and a lot of beautiful people

It was a place called Herrsching near Munich. We were sailing on a ship and on the upper deck the bride and the groom said their beautiful and gentle vows to each other. Since the wedding was Russian-German, bride's friends have quirkily altered the Russian tradition of bread and salt, which the bride and groom should eat together. They replaced the bread with a salty bretzel and made a typical-russian-wedding joke - Oliver and Anastasia should bite a bretzel at the same time and the one who bites off a larger piece would be the ruler at their home. Well, Oliver won the fight

After that we danced, had some delicious food and watched a delightful sunset. I was so glad to participate in this celebration and I'm infinitely grateful to the guys for their trust.

Enjoy the photos!

Hermes Villa is a hidden treasure of Vienna. The palace located in Lainzer Tiergarten, the former Habsburgs hunting forest. The villa was a gift from Emperor Franz Joseph to his wife, Empress Elizabeth, knowing as Sisi.  She called Hermes villa her Palace of Dreams (Schloss der Träume). Naturally, a historical background like that and extraordinarily elegancy of architecture makes the palace desirable place for the wedding. Slava and Sasha decided to make their wedding photoshoot in Vienna and after long searches we found this place. Sometimes you get lucky and that day was definitely our day. The last May was the coldest May I've ever remember in Vienna, but in very this day the temperature was about 25 degree, slight wind and sun. The perfect weather for the perfect photoshoot! 

Once at a party I met the composer Alexei Retinsky and his family - his wife Katya and daughter Theodora. After some time, we decided together to shoot in a reportage style, without strenuous posing.

Together we thought out wonderful outfits for the whole family: I told Katya that interesting images and rich textures were needed and she understood me perfectly. For shooting she chose natural colors and a variety of materials that look good in photographs - wool, velvet, silk, were chosen. Layering and comfort. These clothes reflect and emphasize individuality and are combined with nature.

We chose for a walk the outskirts of Vienna - The Schafberg Hill. In the autumn, it is very romantic there: hills, city views and a golden transparent forest.

The guys did not pose specifically. We walked, ate buns, drank hot punch on the bench and chatted. This format of the photo shoot is the most pleasant - it's just a walk where you can remain yourself.

This winter in Vienna is terrible weather - sleet with rain and we don't see the sun by weeks!
I'm always looking for good locations to shoot.  Where to go when Christmas markets are already closed, and and there are still three months before the blooming of magnolias and cherries? There is a very meager selection of photo studios in Vienna and I do not like their plastic interiors. Any more or less interesting place you need to issue a permit. Museums can be an option for a small private shootings. But if this is a wedding shoot or a fashion photography, then the museum will require a permission and payment for that. The situation is similar with the hotel lobby: you have to pay for the interiors. In this case, the best option would be to rent a room at the hotel.
So here you can find a list of the most photogenic hotels in Vienna:

• Grand Ferdinand Vienna — this is my favourite! Lux with a balcony it is something! Standart suits also pretty nice.
• 25hours Hotel beim MuseumsQuartier — the atmosphere of light madness: painted walls and rich colors. Panoramic suite is very good.
• Le Meridien Vienna — very stylish rooms in a minimalist high-tech style
• Hotel Imperial - A Luxury Collection Hotel — when you know for sure that you are born for royal life
• Hotel Sans Souci Wien — Junior Suites are very good! 

Spontaneous shooting in the park Schönbrunn, in the midst of autumn. Actually, the guys had long planned to arrange a photo session, but they waited for two things: until the belly becomes noticeable and when they know one simple thing: boy or girl, because they wanted  take photos with socks of right colour. According to the plan, the shooting was suppose to happen in late autumn, but then Oksana called me earlier and said that they already knew: it's gonna be a boy! They were ready. 

The next day we scheduled a meeting. And everything turned out, we were very lucky with the weather, and the guys were so sincerely happy, so gentle with each other, that the whole photo session was easy and fun.

Usually, when I am invited to a wedding as a guest, I don’t take pictures. Work is work, and at friends' parties I prefer to have a good rest. But this summer, I broke my rule. My friends Serge and Arina had a wonderful little wedding in the circle of close friends and relatives. They decided not to call people from the wedding industry but do everything on their own: they picked up music, entertainment for the guests, did small competitions and found a very beautiful restaurant. I decided to give them a small surprise and took the camera with me. For me it was a very unusual shooting format - I had a rest and had fun, and took pictures between this and then. The pictures I am proud of have turned out. Sunny and airy like that beautiful day.